5 Myths About the 'Information Age'

In a recent article, Robert Darnton, a professor and university librarian at Harvard University, discusses five common misconceptions about the 'Information Age,' including "the book is dead," "we have entered the information age," "all information is available online," "libraries are obsolete," and "the future is digital."  According to Darnton, "confusion about the nature of the so-called information age has led to a state of collective false consciousness. It's no one's fault but everyone's problem, because in trying to get our bearings in cyberspace, we often get things wrong, and the misconceptions spread so rapidly that they go unchallenged."  He later explains, "I mention these misconceptions because I think they stand in the way of understanding shifts in the information environment. They make the changes appear too dramatic. They present things ahistorically and in sharp contrasts—before and after, either/or, black and white."

Read 5 Myths About the 'Information Age'